Fancy That [Mixtape]

“Fancy That” delivers on all of PP’s promise, satiating while still leaving the listener wanting more.

She occupies the space between the bouncing, full-bodied bassline and plaintive keyboards with a plainly stated want that would be unthinkable on her introverted early releases. Having come so fully into her own, PinkPantheress still aspires to reach out to you.

The mixtape jumps from acid basslines to Daft Punk-style chops in the time it takes to draw a breath. Just take "Stateside," which layers a goody bag of textures (scratchy percussion loops, vinyl scratches, stratospheric leads, and no fewer than three different bass tones) that whirl away from a breathless hook like petals. With her third full-length project, PinkPantheress refurbishes the refurbishers for yet another new generation

Fancy That is some of Pink's most carefree work, but it's still highly emotional, and its songs are as well-crafted, catchy, and creative as anything else she's done.

The music on Fancy That feels simultaneously boiled down yet packed with ideas, fleeting but not lacking, familiar but fresh, focused less on making grand statements than with immediacy and unforced fun: all perennially good things for pop music to be.

The samples are cleaner, more deliberate — used to tell stories rather than simply reference them. From Sugababes and Basement Jaxx to Just Jack and Nardo Wick, the influences are varied but handpicked. That full-circle moment on ‘Stars’ is one of the mixtape’s most striking flips, a clear sign of how far she’s come.

She’s no longer content with being the elusive girl behind the screen, proving she can shapeshift, push boundaries and still keep us hooked – all in under 20 minutes.

The upshot is nine crispy song-nuggets that don’t overstay or overshare.

The longest track on Fancy That barely scrapes the three-minute mark, though that seems epic compared to the tracks on her 2021 mixtape To Hell with It. And yet, in just over 20 minutes, it still manages to leave a distinct impression.